Commonwealth Games and World War I Join UK's Coin Collection

The Royal Mint has shown off the new range of coins that'll be jingling about in our pockets with the rest of them in 2014, with the star being a new two pound coin featuring WWI recruitment figurehead Lord Kitchener. Yes, another man on our money, but we understand there's still a woman on the back of them all.

Kitchener's WWI memorial coin will soon be joined by others commemorating the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the first world war, with the Royal Mint committed to launching a series of additional coins over the coming years that record key moments from the Great War.

As well as the pointing man, we'll see new £1 coins featuring the traditional shamrock and flax plants of Northern Ireland, plus a pairing of a thistle and bluebell to represent Scotland. Not entirely original concepts, those two, but there's a nice modernist 50p to celebrate the Glasgow Commonwealth Games on the way, plus a £2 coin immortalising Trinity House, the corporation that's handled the UK's sea defences for 500 years.